A Letter to My Kids on Mother's Day

Mother's Day
May 8, 2011


Dear Aaron, Elijah, Andrew, and Hadley,

I know I normally make a card for your mom on Mother's Day, but this time I wanted to write you a letter about her. I want to share a little bit about why she is a wonderful mother. I hope you think she is because there are very few sure things in life but this is one of them.

Your mom didn't just become a great mom overnight. Her preparation began along time ago, even before she was born. From many of the stories I hear, your Great-grandma Joyce was quite a wonderful mother. She had 5 children, Sue, Robin, Becky, Tim, and Jacque. She had to be very creative with the way she spent the money on clothes and food when her kids were growing up. She made a lot of the kids clothes, including Easter dresses and they even managed to have dessert most meals. Sue, Becky, Tim, and Jacque are some of your mom's aunts and uncles, but Robin is your mom's mom, you call her Grandma Robin.

Your mom had a great childhood and her mom had a lot to do with that. Grandma Robin taught your mom a lot of things. She taught her to sew, cook, save money, and love her family. Your mom loves kids because Grandma Robin loved kids so much. Your mom always had baby dolls she took care of, and when she wasn't caring for baby dolls, she was playing with her cousins Erin and Rachel or some other baby. Grandma Robin and your mom love to do projects together. They make crafts, sew cute clothes, make Christmas ornaments and many other things together. That's why your mom likes to do those things with you.

Your Grandpa Ron, your mom's dad, also contributed a lot to your mom's development into a wonderful mother. If you haven't noticed, your mom loves to chit chat. You can thank Grandpa Ron for that. He never met a stranger and your mother loves to make small talk with others. Your mom makes people feel important when she chats with them. Many times people share important things with your mom because she listens and will talk to them when someone else might not. Your mom will always listen to you if you need to talk.

Grandpa Ron works hard. Grandpa Ron gets up early, works hard all day and goes to bed tired. He thinks that sleeping until seven o'clock counts as sleeping in. He taught your mom that hard work is a valuable thing and you should do your best in everything. Your mom works hard every day, whether it is doing things around the house or working with babies to help them develop into happy, healthy school-aged kids. Your mom works hard at home to keep the house looking nice for you, me, and your friends who come over to play.

Your Grandpa Ron and Grandma Robin taught your mom about Jesus. They went to church and helped your mom learn things from the Bible and eventually accept Jesus as her savior. Of all the things they taught your mom, this was the most important.

Your mom went to college here in Evansville, IN, a long way away from her mom and dad. Her mom and dad loved her enough to let her go to college where she wanted even though it meant they wouldn't see her as much as they would like to. Then, your mom graduated, got a job, got married and decided to stay here to live. Your mom values family time. She misses her family in Colorado and cherishes every moment she gets to be with them, but she values our family even more so she has sacrificed time with her mom and dad to be the best mom for you that she can be.

Your mom is cool. I'm not sure who she got that from, except maybe her husband (wink, wink). She dresses cool, she talks cool, and she acts cool. She reads cool books so she can discuss them with you, she watches cool movies with you, she rocks at video games, uh, scratch that, she is terrible at video games except for Wii Tennis. Your mom wants to be the mom who feeds your stinky teenage friends snacks after school or on the weekend. She wants to have the house your friends want to hang out at. Do you know why? Because she loves you and wants to provide you with a fun and safe place to have a good time.

Your mom is creative. She loves to make things and she loves to watch you kids make things. God created the earth and in many ways, when we are creating things with our hands, we are imitating God.

Your mom is silly. She loves to make you laugh. When you are older she will love to be silly and embarrass you around your friends.

Your mom is smart. She worked hard in school and got good grades. She graduated college with great grades despite me trying to drag her away from studying. But most of all she's smart because she married me.

Your mom is generous. Your mom is generous with her time and her energy. She helps when her friends need it. She makes dresses for little girls in Haiti who don't have any. She helps you with school projects when she has other things to do. She takes cookies or banana bread to Miss Agnes and listens as Miss Agnes talks away.

Your mom is beautiful. She is beautiful on the inside and outside. Your mom's appearance is what I noticed about her first, but her character, her love for others, and her love for Jesus is what kept me calling and bugging her to go on a date.

Your mom loves you. Of all the things she will give you throughout your life, her love is the most important. Your toys will get lost or broken, you will outgrow your clothes, but you will never lose or outgrow her love for you. Her love wakes you up in the morning for school and her love packs your lunch. Her love cooks your dinner and snuggles you when you are sick. Her love carried you for nine months and fed you in the middle of the night. Her love will cry at your graduation remembering your first haircut and your first day of Kindergarten. Her love will light the candle at your wedding and her love will invite your husband or wife into our family as one of her own.

Learn from her example, be silly, be generous, work hard, pick a wonderful mate (wink, wink), and love Jesus. If you learn those things from her, you will be a beautiful person inside and out, just like her.


With Love,
Dad